1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a storage area network system (hereinafter referred to as “SAN system”) construction aid apparatus, a SAN system construction aid method and a SAN system construction aid program which reduce time, labor, cost and the like required when a SAN system is constructed.
2. Description of the Related Art
A lot of methods for managing and controlling the configuration of a computer system have been disclosed (for example, patent document 1, patent document 2, patent document 3 and patent document 4). Disclosed in patent document 1 is a system which aids the design of the application configuration of a calculator in a client and server system, and the use of this system enables an operator who does not know the restrictions pertaining to the constituents of the system between a client and a server to design the configuration of a client and server system, and enables him to conduct this work efficiently.
In recent years, in a network comprising a plurality of storages and a plurality of servers connected by a LAN (Local Area Network), a SAN system which makes it possible to reduce TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) by integrating a plurality of storages which each server uses and managing them on the basis of a single principle has been widely spreading.
This SAN system connects a server and a storage by the fabric method using, for example, a fiber channel and a fiber channel switch, in a channel different from a LAN, makes high-speed access from the server to the storage possible, and makes it possible to manage a plurality of storages distributed on the basis of a single principle by dynamically connecting the server and the storage.
FIG. 1 shows the basic configuration of the SAN system. In order to simplify the description, FIG. 1 shows the SAN system which connects one set of server 100 and one set of storage 200 by the fabric method using two sets of fiber channel switch (hereinafter referred to as “FC switch”) 300A and 300B and a fiber channel 400 using seven optical fibers.
The server 100 has two fiber channel ports 101 and 102 (hereinafter referred to as “FC port”) to which the fiber channel 400 is connected, and the storage 200 has four FC ports 201, 202, 203 and 204. The two FC switches 300A and 300B have FC ports 310A to 310H and 320A to 320H respectively as well as FC ports 310I and 320I to cascade-connect the FC switches.
The FC port 310I of the FC switch 300A and the FC port 320I of FC switch 300B are cascade-connected by the fiber channel 400, and the FC port 101 and FC port 102 of the server 100, the FC ports 201 to 204 of the storage 200, and the FC ports 310A to 310H and 320A to 320H of the FC switches 300A and 300B respectively are connected to    FC port 101—FC port 310A    FC port 102—FC port 320A    FC port 310E—FC port 201    FC port 310F—FC port 202    FC port 320E—FC port 203    FC port 320F—FC port 204    by the fiber channel 400.
In a fiber channel, an inherent ID code of world wide port name (hereinafter referred to as “WWPN”) as a given format configuration is set to FC ports. The FC switch has a zoning function (access control function) for dividing the connection relationship between the FC port of the server side and the FC port of the storage side using the WWPN peculiar to the FC port, and this zoning function dynamically controls the connection of the FC port of the server side and the FC port of the storage side.
The FC switches 300A and 300B are equipped with the zoning mechanisms 311 and 321 which fulfill the zoning function. In the construction of a SAN system, the zone division information which indicates the connection relationship between the zoning mechanisms 311 and 321 and the FC ports 101 and 102 of the server 100, the FC ports 201 to 204 of the storage 200 is set, and a logical connection path (hereinafter referred to as “access path”) between the FC ports 101 and 102 of the server 100 which makes access possible and the FC ports 201 to 204 of the storage 200 is set.
In FIG. 1, when the WWPN of the FC ports 101 and 102 of the server 100 is WWPN11 and WWPN12, the WWPN of the FC ports 201, 202, 203 and 204 of the storage 200 is WWPN21, WWPN22, WWPN23 and WWPN24, the FC switch 300A and the FC switch 300B are cascade-connected, so that these switches share the zones, and zone A (WWPN11, WWPN21), zone B (WWPN11, WWPN23), zone C (WWPN12, WWPN22) and zone D (WWPN12, WWPN24) are set by the zoning mechanisms 311 and 321.
Therefore, in the SAN system shown in FIG. 1, four access paths AP1 to AP4 i.e.    AP1: FC port 101—FC port 210    AP2: FC port 101—FC port 203    AP3: FC port 102—FC port 202    AP4: FC port 102—FC port 204 are set between the server 100 and the storage 200.
When a SAN system is actually constructed, it is necessary to set the access path of the SAN system by determining the type and quantity of each device constituting the SAN system such as a server, a storage and an FC switch, physically connecting each server and each FC switch, and each storage and each FC switch by a fiber channel, and setting the zoning of each FC switch.
When a SAN system was actually constructed in the past, a client determined the type and quantity of each device constituting the SAN system such as a server, a storage and an FC switch, made a block diagram of the SAN system in advance, physically connected each server and each FC switch, and each storage and each FC switch by a fiber channel based on this block diagram, and then set an access path to the constructed SAN system using, for example, the software for SAN management.
After the client constructed the SAN system, he used to check through visual inspection whether the configuration of the SAN system conformed to the SAN system block diagram he made in advance.
Patent document 1: Kokai (Jpn. unexamined patent publication) No. 10-187428 (pages 1 to 8, FIGS. 1 to 26)
Patent document 2: Kokai (Jpn. unexamined patent publication) No. 4-304510 (pages 1 to 3, FIGS. 1 to 5)
Patent document 3: Kokai (Jpn. unexamined patent publication) No. 8-562232 (pages 1 to 7, FIGS. 1 to 11)
Patent document 4: Kokai (Jpn. unexamined patent publication) No. 8-129497 (pages 1 to 15, FIGS. 1 to 37)
In the conventional method of constructing a SAN system, it was not possible to check through visual inspection what configuration the SAN system under consideration would become like before introducing the SAN system, so there was a problem in that the load for designing the system was huge, a long time was required, and the cost for introducing the SAN system was high.
In the conventional method of constructing a SAN system, it was necessary to set an access path after building the SAN system actually, so there was a problem in that a lot of time and labor were required to set the access path in a large-scale SAN system and that errors in the work easily arose therefrom.
Moreover, there was another problem in that since it was checked through visual inspection whether the SAN system was constructed as designed after the SAN system was actually constructed, time was required for the checking, and a failure in checking was likely to occur easily.
In addition, the design of the SAN system has required, in recent years, a lot of know-how because of the complexity of its environment and its system contents. This makes the burden to be borne by a system engineer all the more large and makes errors occur easily, and man-hours including the processes of setting an actual system are huge.
Concretely speaking, first of all, it was necessary to grasp complex know-how in a preliminary system design.
Next, in the preliminary system design, it was necessary to confirm the information on WWNN (World Wide Node Name) and WWPN (World Wide Port Name) of actual devices (devices which actually constitute the SAN system) because there is information which can be confirmed only by the actual devices, such as a control number from a server to a storage. There was another problem in that there is a possibility that an error in the confirmed information and an input error arise.
There was also another problem in that in constructing the system in the site where the system is actually introduced, a lot of man-hours for setting an access path are required.
The present invention was worked out in view of the above problems, and the purpose of the present invention is to provide a SAN system construction aid apparatus, a SAN system construction aid method and a SAN system construction aid program which can reduce various burdens of work and time related to the construction of the SAN system and can further reduce TCO by making a computer virtually design the SAN system, directing the computer to display the result of the virtual design to make a visual design of the SAN system possible, and making the confirmation of the SAN system which is actually constructed using the design data possible.
The present invention makes man-hour reduction and automatic system setting in an installation site possible by performing system design in advance and automatically reading information necessary for constructing the system in the installation site from the actual apparatus and implementing the setting.